The CBO is required to assume that Congress will continue existing law — meaning that it will not extend the tax cuts signed by President George Bush in 2003 and President Barrack Obama in 2011, won’t extend the alternative minimum tax, and will cut fees paid to Medicare doctors according to the timeline of current law.

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However, the federal government has also committed to spend future funds on numerous discretionary programs and entitlement programs, such as Medicare.

The gap between those commitments and likely tax revenue is $211 trillion, partly because of the post-retirement expectations of 78 million baby boomers, according to Boston University professor, Laurence Kotlikoff, who worked on the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers for President Ronald Reagan. To close that huge gap, Kotlikoff said, federal government spending should be cut by 40 percent, or taxes should be raised by roughly 65 percent, he told NPR on August 6.

Given the lack of confidence the American people have in Congress and lawmakers recent debate about the debt ceiling, this usually logical step is considered a tall order by political observers.